Between them, that Schuylkill County foursome brought home five medals from last year's PIAA Track and Field Championships, including Shearn's gold in the Class 2A 3200-meter run.

The four will be headed back to Shippensburg this weekend - along with 19 other District 11 competitors - when the state's top track and field athletes converge on Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium for the two-day state finals.

North Schuylkill's Shearn will be out to defend his 3200-meter state title and avenge his disappointing 12th-place finish in the 1600 a year ago, when the afternoon heat and the early-morning 3200 sapped him of all his energy for the 1600-meter final. He won both the 1600 and 3200 at last week's District 11 championships, making him a three-time district champion in both events.

A year ago, Shearn won the 3200 at states in 9:22.09, holding off Holy Cross runner Rico Galassi (9:23.84) down the stretch. The boys Class 2A state record is 9:04.09.

The 1600 prelims are set for noon today, with the Class 2A 3200 and 1600 finals scheduled for Saturday at 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., respectively. Shearn is also part of the Spartans' 4x800 relay team of Jordan Shinkus, Devin Mashack and Will Halko, who will pass the baton in this morning's prelims.

Shearn, who is headed to the University of Pennsylvania in the fall, won't be the only local athlete looking to close out a decorated track and field career this weekend.

Tamaqua's Christine Streisel, a three-time medalist in the javelin and four-time state medalist overall, hopes to write a final golden chapter to her high school career before heading off to Duke University on a track and field scholarship.

A year ago, Streisel settled for the silver medal in the javelin after winning gold as a sophomore. She also placed sixth in the shot put last spring.

Streisel, a two-time Penn Relays champion who won the D-11 meet last week with a throw of 144 feet, is seeded second to Fort Cherry's Jenna Lucas (145-8) in the javelin. She is seeded third in the shot put (39-5) behind top seed Kailyn Clancy (43-0) of California High. Both events will take place Saturday.

The Tamaqua boys have been bumped up from Class 2A to 3A this spring, making things all the tougher for returning state medalists Hope and Hertzog. Hope captured a silver medal in the boys Class 2A javelin (198-4) a year ago, and Hertzog was eighth in the boys Class 2A 110-high hurdles (15.21)

Hertzog's competition begins today in the Class 3A 110-meter high hurdles preliminaries at 11 a.m. Hertzog has a seed time of 14.55, and will run in the preliminaries right beside top-seeded Wellington Zaza (13.86) of Garnet Valley. The semifinals and finals are Saturday.

As for Hope, he is seeded 15th out of 30 throwers in the Class 3A javelin. His district-winning distance was 184-5. Boyertown's Ethan Shalaway is the top seed at 208-8. The javelin competition is Saturday afternoon.

Today's competitors

Marian's Nico Agosti will have a busy first day with preliminaries scheduled in the boys Class 2A 200- and 400-meter dashes. He is also on the Colts' 4x400 relay team of Chris Bruno, John Julian and Ryan Karnish. That is the final event on the track today at 4:30. Bruno will also compete in the 100-meter dash prelims this morning.

The Colts' Corey Quick will be in the boys Class 2A javelin this morning at 9.

Also today, North Schuylkill's Danny McSurdy will take part in preliminaries in both the 100-meter dash and 300-meter intermediate hurdles, while Mahanoy Area's Tyler Cavenas will be in his first event - the shot put - today at 12:30.

On the girls' side today, Maria Streisel competes at states for the second time in the long jump; Carter Green of North Schuylkill and Ahna Huss of Shenandoah Valley once again take part in the discus event; Carly Gregas is in the high jump this afternoon; Marian's Christy Digiandomenico is in the 300 hurdles preliminaries; and Tamaqua's Chelsea Frantz competes in the 800 prelims.

Huss is Shenandoah Valley's first-ever four-time state qualifier, and Green is a three-time state qualifier.

Saturday's events

In addition to semifinal and final events slated throughout the day Saturday, champions will be crowned in a number of other events.

Shearn is set to run the 3200-meter final at 9 a.m., while North Schuylkill teammate Cody Antalosky competes in the long jump. Mahanoy Area's Cavenas will be in the discus final Saturday at 9.

Local girls scheduled to compete from District 11 on Saturday include Christine Streisel (javelin, shot put), Tamaqua teammate Amanda Solt in the shot put, and fellow javelin thrower Paige Demetriades.

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